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From: WChan@cup.portal.com (Wilson - Chan)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: MAC SE w/68030???
Message-ID: <13025@cup.portal.com>
Date: 29 Dec 88 04:29:15 GMT
References: <6101@columbia.edu> <1443@cooper.cooper.EDU> <76252@felix.UUCP>
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Lines: 40


>
>Cupertino, CA--Apple has begun privately showing the next Macintosh, which
>they intend to introduce on January 19th. As yet unnamed, the model is being 
>referred to as the SEx by many Apple insiders, since it is basically a IIx
>in an SE box. While the outside of the machine looks no different than the
>standard SE (aside from the nameplate, whatever that will say), inside is
>a miniature version of the IIx's, including the 68030, 68882, ROM SIMMS,
>and up to 8 MB of RAM SIMMs. Drivewise, you get a choice between the 40MB
>and 80MB sizes, same as with a II. The floppy drive is a HDFD, which means
>it reads and writes Mac 400K, 800K, 1440K, Apple II 800K, and IBM PC 720K
>and 1.44MB disks. What about color and the NUBus?
>
>Well, no NuBus, although the SE bus has been extended to 102 pins (up from
>96)--perhaps we'll see a third party introduce a NuBus expansion chassis
>for the machine. The internal monitor is still monochrome, but surprisingly
>the new machine has the exact same ROMs as the IIx, which means they include
>the color Quick Draw routines.

According to InfoWorld (Dec. 19, 1988), the new bus architecture is called the
'030 Direct Connection'.  It mentioned '030 Direct Connection' would perform I/O
operations faster than Nubus-equipped Mac II and Mac IIx because the 030 bus
avoids the arbitration required by the Nubus.

>The problem with this machine, as we see it, is that it cannibalizes the
>current Macintosh II lineup. With an expected price $500 to $1000 less
>than a similarly-equipped IIx, the SEx is simply the machine of choice
>for virtually everyone except those that absolutely require color video.
>Having lugged our Mac IIs around thousands of miles, we've been envious
>of the transportability of the regular Mac models for some time--the SEx
>looks to be the perfect luggable II.

New slot standard for the Mac indicates less portability between machines and
we are coming into the position present in PC world having different bus
architectures across machines (AT bus, EISA, MCA, etc.).

>Shirley Kehr

Wilson Chan
WChan@cup.portal.com